Community Development

Berrien County's excellent location in the heart of "Michigan's Great Southwest" makes it a prime market for business, industry, and tourism. Its substantial and wide variety of agriculture has established locally grown crops as major attractions for tourists and food processors. Strategically located on the Chicago/Detroit, Grand Rapids/Indianapolis vectors, Berrien County is served by major interstate highways, airports, rail transportation, and shipping - both deep draft and river barge. Scenic natural beauty and 50 miles of shoreline on Lake Michigan make Berrien County a choice destination for tourists, artists, and naturalists.

Services

The Berrien County Community Development Department oversees Economic Development, Planning, Solid Waste Management, Transportation and Resource Recovery. The Department works closely with community leaders and governments to coordinate their activities that deal with attracting and maintaining businesses within Berrien County through pooling resources. It is also the focal point for many projects that are multi-governmental. The Berrien County Community Development Department is the resource that the community looks to for the coordination of programs that are grant or loan eligible.

The Berrien County Community Development Department’s primary role is to enhance a cooperative spirit in the community to include education, government and private sectors through the retention of current jobs and to stimulate increased employment opportunities. The Berrien County Community Development Department seeks to improve the economic well-being of Berrien County by influencing, encouraging and supporting private business growth, expansion and job creation to continually stabilize our tax base without duplicating efforts. Job retention, job creation, tax base enhancement and property reuse improves everyone’s quality of life.